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Forum:Boss characteristics
What defines a boss, in our terms? Are we going with a game definition, characteristic definition or otherwise? Which characteristics will overrule all others should there be controversies? Thus we have two bodies of text defining bosses: one in Category:Bosses and one recently written, under the page Bosses (surprise, surprise). I'll try to summarize what both these texts say, but feel free to interpret them at will. In Category:Bosses, bosses: *Are (usually) fought at some point in a game *Must be "defeated" to advance further in a game *Tend to be bigger than other present enemies *Contained in a single room *Are never found in mini games Bosses article The bosses article tries to lie down some hardcore criteria specifically defining all exceptions and specific characteristics that define a boss. This isn't bad, but I do feel the definition of a boss should try to be as absolute as possible as to minimize the exceptions. Bosses: *Must be the only one present in the level they are in *Are significantly larger than all enemies and the main character *Are found in the last level of a game or appear in "set" levels *(Often) require more effort to kill/defeat Others Something not mentioned in either of these criteria is the relationship the NPC has with the main character. I know this doesn't apply to many games; I was actually thinking more in context of the sun in New Moon. Your intention is to rescue "him". You're not actually trying to defeat him, even though he can deal you damage. Well, this is from what I've read so far, because I haven't gotten that far in Cheese Dreams. But compare him to say, Mother in the Toxic series, the hero intentionally wants to defeat the robot. There are some characteristics of both pages that I think could work out, but are too specific and result in multiple exceptions. As repeated from above, we want a definition that is absolute but minimizes exceptions. 19:19, December 11, 2013 (UTC) Discussion Well, one or the other or both of these pages need to have their criteria changed, as they have slightly different criteria. We need to decide on a list of criteria that will work. I personally think that we should find a list of criteria and if a boss meets most? all? all but one? of them then they are considered a boss. However, whenever a new boss or boss-like character is released, the criteria will always have to be re-reviewed and possibly edited to fit the new characters. As a side note, RSK interpreted the criteria from Bosses correctly. 14:17, December 12, 2013 (UTC) :Hey, let's use Wikipedia! The article on bosses states that a boss is: :In video gaming, a boss is an enemy-based challenge (and a computer-controlled opponent in such a challenge). A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Boss battles are generally seen at the climax of a particular section of the game, usually at the end of a stage or level, or guarding a specific objective, and the boss enemy is generally far stronger than the opponents the player has faced up to that point. The boss enemy is often larger in size than other enemies and the player character. :In the case of the Sun, I wouldn't really consider him an enemy, plus he is not fought. In any case, I feel that these are quite good guidelines to place on the boss articles. -- 15:15, December 12, 2013 (UTC)